Today, Algiers release “Void”, the second track, from the forthcoming album ‘There Is No Year’ , following Tuesday’s premiere via the Adult Swim Singles Club. The song is also available as a flexi-disc as part of the vinyl edition of ‘There Is No Year’, out January 17
To mark the release of ‘There Is No Year’, Algiers will perform in several U.S. record stores including Atlanta’s Criminal Records, Philadelphia’s Repo and Brooklyn’s Rough Trade in mid January. See below and visit algierstheband.com/instoretour for further details. In February, the band will kick off a European tour, returning stateside in March.
Wednesday, February 5 Village Underground, London UK
Thursday, February 6 YES, Manchester UK
Friday, February 7 Stereo, Glasgow UK
Saturday, February 8 Whelans, Dublin IE
Monday, February 10 Brudenell, Leeds UK
Wednesday, February 12 Botanique Rotonde, Brussels BE
Thursday, February 13 Paradiso Upstairs, Amsterdam NE
Friday, February 14 Club Volta, Cologne DE
Saturday, February 15 Manufaktur, Schorndorf DE
Monday, February 17 Zoom, Frankfurt DE
Tuesday, February 18 Beatpol, Dresden DE
Thursday, February 20 Hybrydy, Warsaw PO
Friday, February 21 Lucerna Music Bar, Prague CZ
Saturday, February 22 Flex, Vienna AU
Monday, February 24 Strom, Munich DE
Wednesday, February 26 Monk, Rome IT
Thursday, February 27 Ohibo, Milan IT
Saturday, February 29 La 3 Razzmatazz, Barcelona ES
Sunday, March 1 Cafe Berlin, Madrid ES
Tuesday, March 3 Rock School Barbey, Bordeaux FR
Wednesday, March 4 Stereolux, Nantes FR
Thursday, March 5 La Maroquinerie, Paris FR
Wednesday, March 11 Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA
Thursday, March 12 Black Cat, Washington DC
Friday, March 13 Mothlight, Asheville NC
Saturday, March 14 529, Atlanta GA
Friday, March 20 Club Congress, Tucson AZ
Saturday, March 21 Casbah, San Diego CA
Tuesday, March 24 The Echo, Los Angeles CA
Wednesday, March 25 Slim’s, San Francisco CA
Saturday, March 28 Polaris Hall, Portland OR
Sunday, March 29 The Crocodile, Seattle WA
Wednesday, April 1 Turf Club, St. Paul MN
Thursday, April 2 Cactus Club, Milwaukee WI
Friday, April 3 Empty Bottle, Chicago IL
Saturday, April 4 Rumba Club, Columbus OH
Sunday, April 5 Deluxx Fluxx, Detroit MI
Monday, April 6 The Baby G, Toronto ON
Tuesday, April 7 Bar Le Ritz, Montreal QC
Thursday, April 9 Saint Vitus, Brooklyn NY
Tuesday, April 21 Knust, Hamburg DE
Friday, April 24 Nalen Klubb, Stockholm SE
Saturday, April 25 Mejeriet, Lund SE
Monday, April 27 Lido, Berlin DE
Wednesday, April 29 Morze, St. Petersberg RU
Thursday, April 30 Aglomerat, Moscow RU
Sunday, May 3rd ISC, Bern CH
Monday, May 4th Bogen F, Zurich CH
Adult Swim Singles have just shared a new song by Algiers as the fifth entry in the 2019-2020 program. Shared in advance of their hotly anticipated third album ‘There is No Yea’r (out January 17, “Void” is Algiers at their visceral, powerhouse peak – a three-minute adrenaline-surge of hypnotic and infectious breakneck fury, with Matt Tong’s galloping drums, guitarist Lee Tesche’s sound shards, and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Mahan’s inventive bass work coming together around frontman Franklin James Fisher’s feverish recitation: ‘Got to find a way to get out of it!’ It expands on the doom-laden soul of their foundation, toward a vaster, genre-reformatting sound, one somehow suspended in the amber of “a different era,” as described by Tesche. In conjunction with the new track the band are helming an Instagram Story takeover of the Adult Swim account – check it out at @AdultSwim.
Monday, February 3 The Haunt, Brighton UK
Wednesday, February 5 Village Underground, London UK
Thursday, February 6 YES, Manchester UK
Friday, February 7 Stereo, Glasgow UK
Saturday, February 8 Whelans, Dublin IE
Monday, February 10 Brudenell, Leeds UK
Wednesday, February 12 Botanique Rotonde, Brussels BE
Thursday, February 13 Paradiso Upstairs, Amsterdam NE
Friday, February 14 Club Volta, Cologne DE
Saturday, February 15 Manufaktur, Schorndorf DE
Monday, February 17 Zoom, Frankfurt DE
Tuesday, February 18 Beatpol, Dresden DE
Thursday, February 20 Hybrydy, Warsaw PO
Friday, February 21 Lucerna Music Bar, Prague CZ
Saturday, February 22 Flex, Vienna AU
Monday, February 24 Strom, Munich DE
Wednesday, February 26 Monk, Rome IT
Thursday, February 27 Ohibo, Milan IT
Saturday, February 29 La 3 Razzmatazz, Barcelona ES
Sunday, March 1 Cafe Berlin, Madrid ES
Tuesday, March 3 Rock School Barbey, Bordeaux FR
Wednesday, March 4 Stereolux, Nantes FR
Thursday, March 5 La Maroquinerie, Paris FR
Wednesday, March 11 Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA
Thursday, March 12 Black Cat, Washington DC
Friday, March 13 Mothlight, Asheville NC
Saturday, March 14 529, Atlanta GA
Friday, March 20 Club Congress, Tucson AZ
Saturday, March 21 Casbah, San Diego CA
Tuesday, March 24 The Echo, Los Angeles CA
Wednesday, March 25 Slim’s, San Francisco CA
Saturday, March 28 Polaris Hall, Portland OR
Sunday, March 29 The Crocodile, Seattle WA
Wednesday, April 1 Turf Club, St. Paul MN
Thursday, April 2 Cactus Club, Milwaukee WI
Friday, April 3 Empty Bottle, Chicago IL
Saturday, April 4 Rumba Club, Columbus OH
Sunday, April 5 Deluxx Fluxx, Detroit MI
Monday, April 6 The Baby G, Toronto ON
Tuesday, April 7 Bar Le Ritz, Montreal QC
Thursday, April 9 Saint Vitus, Brooklyn NY
Tuesday, April 21 Knust, Hamburg DE
Friday, April 24 Nalen Klubb, Stockholm SE
Saturday, April 25 Mejeriet, Lund SE
Monday, April 27 Lido, Berlin DE
Wednesday, April 29 Morze, St. Petersberg RU
Thursday, April 30 Aglomerat, Moscow RU
Sunday, May 3rd ISC, Bern CH
Monday, May 4th Bogen F, Zurich CH
continuing Spoon’s vault-plundering series of rarity-unleashing, here’s a demo version of 2002’s b-side “Is This The Last Time”, now available for streaming or download.
Submit a playlist of your favorite Matador songs from 2010-2019 for a chance to win a copy of every vinyl album from the next decade: features.matadorrecords.com/decade (Contest is U.S. only). Today is the last day to save 25% on (almost) everything at the Matador Webstore, worldwide. (Illustration by William Stout). #banalitymeetsfinality
Made available from today, exclusively via the good folks over at Norman Records, is a limited to 300 edition of Kim Gordon’s debut solo album ‘No Home Record’.
On ‘No Home Record’, Norman Records wrote, “[No Home Record] is preoccupied with the feelings of transience and displacement – both physical and spiritual – that go hand-in-hand with modern existence, and consists of nine tracks of exploratory alternative rock.”
Spoon continue to plunder their own vault(s) and today unleash the demo version of “The Underdog”, the mega-hit from 2007’s ‘Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga’. Lovers of rock / cinema history might recall the song playing in the closing credits of 2011 Palme d’Or winner “Horrible Bosses” (not, I should stress, a documentary about working at Matador Records).
King Krule today releases the short film, “Hey World!”, directed by Charlotte Patmore and written by Archy Marshall. With signature wit and in his own unique style, the short film shows Marshall performing solo four as-yet-unreleased tracks,”Perfecto Miserable,” “Alone Omen 3,” “(Don’t Let The Dragon) Draag On,” and “Energy Fleets.”
The film comes alongside an announcement for a tour across both sides of the Atlantic, starting on the 3rd of March in Brussels and ending on the 24th of April in Brooklyn. See below for full tour dates.
Tickets go on sale 10AM local time on November 22nd at kingkrule.net.
After announcing two January 2020 Southern Californian dates last week, Steve Gunn has announced a co-headlining North American tour alongside Mary Lattimore and William Tyler in March 2020. Tickets for those dates, leading into Big Ears Festival in Knoxville TN, are on sale this Friday at 11am EST.
Gunn begins Australian touring this weekend, following his first ever performance in Japan earlier this month and dates in New Zealand ending tonight in Hawkes Bay.
March 26-28 Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN * + w/ Tiny Ruins
* with Kim Gordon, Bill Nace and John Truscinski performing “Sounds for Andy Warhol’s Kiss”
anyone can do a Black Friday or Cyber Monday sale. Only the truly insane (h/t Crazy Eddie) will pull something like this on a random Tuesday, however. Now thru December 2, we’re offering 25% off everything at the Matador Store (save for Lucy Dacus’ ‘2019′, and new titles from Desert Sessions and Algiers) w/ code “25offeverything” (HIGH FIVE, CREATIVE COPY TEAM) . LP’s, CD’s, MP3’s, hey, maybe even a few ill-advised cassettes from the greatest catalog in modern musical history from all of your favorites – Yo La Tengo, Snail Mail, Interpol, Belle and Sebastian, Steve Gunn, Spoon, Julien Baker, Car Seat Headrest, Perfume Genius, Stephen Malkmus (with and without The Jicks), Queens of the Stone Age, Kim Gordon, Lucy Dacus, Algiers, the New Pornographers, Cat Power, Ceremony, Liz Phair, Unsane, Guided By Voices, Darkside, Pavement, the New Pornographers, Sonic Youth, Fucked Up…I could go on but YOU GET THE IDEA.
This morning we’re pleased to make available the demo version of Spoon’s much-beloved “Inside Out”, the studio version of which appeared on 2014’s ‘They Want My Soul’. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Britt Daniel recalled, “I wrote that on piano. It was just the chords and a melody, and I remember singing it for my girlfriend and at the time and she was not impressed. I was like ‘Are you kidding me? I know this is fucking great! And then it kind of just existed as this piano vocal song for a long time. I knew something was good about it but we were making ‘I Want Your Soul’ and I didn’t want to have just a vocal and piano song on there, it felt we had done that too much already. So we put a beat to it that was sort of stolen from this Dr. Dre song. Then we used that kick-snare pattern and Alex [Fischel, keyboards and guitar] came up with the idea of a harp sound on a keyboard. Then it sounded like something we’d never done before.”
There’s a lesson of some sort in here but our office is already awash in “I-told-you-so”-isms already (if that’s a thing) but the important part to focus on is that during a period in which we’re shining a spotlight on Spoon’s past works, more cool artifacts from the band’s vault will be unleashed in the days ahead (November 19, December 3 and December 10, to be exact). Play along by utilizing hashtag #spoontbt if you’re inclined.
Marking the final instalment from her 2019 EP, out November 8th on Matador Records, Lucy Dacus has shared New Years-inspired original song “Fool’s Gold”
An arresting showcase of Dacus’ emotionally incisive songwriting, “Fool’s Gold” sees rhythmic acoustic guitar and Lucy’s crystalline vocals sketch with poignant brushstrokes the latent ambiguity and soul-searching that often accompanies this period of the year, moving deftly to a chorus of goosebumps-inducing emotional gravitas.
“I started writing ‘Fool’s Gold’ the moment after the last person left a New Year’s Eve party I hosted in 2018,” says Dacus, “I did what I said – drank the last of the champagne alone, felt anxious, and locked the door behind everyone. New Year’s has grown to be my favorite holiday, and this may be my favorite song on the EP.”
Dacus performed the song live in session for Seattle’s KEXP, who exclusively premiered the track. Watch the performance below :
Augmenting their already lengthy trip around Europe scheduled for February and March 2020, Algiers have announced this morning an extra clutch of dates taking them back onto the continent in April & May.
The band will revisit Germany, and add stops in Sweden, Switzerland and Russia.
Venue information and ticket links available below, with new dates in bold
Monday, February 3 The Haunt, Brighton UK
Wednesday, February 5 Village Underground, London UK
Thursday, February 6 YES, Manchester UK
Friday, February 7 Stereo, Glasgow UK
Saturday, February 8 Whelans, Dublin IE
Monday, February 10 Brudenell, Leeds UK
Wednesday, February 12 Botanique Rotonde, Brussels BE
Thursday, February 13 Paradiso Upstairs, Amsterdam NE
Friday, February 14 Club Volta, Cologne DE
Saturday, February 15 Manufaktur, Schorndorf DE
Monday, February 17 Zoom, Frankfurt DE
Tuesday, February 18 Beatpol, Dresden DE
Thursday, February 20 Hybrydy, Warsaw PO
Friday, February 21 Lucerna Music Bar, Prague CZ
Saturday, February 22 Flex, Vienna AU
Monday, February 24 Strom, Munich DE
Wednesday, February 26 Monk, Rome IT
Thursday, February 27 Ohibo, Milan IT
Saturday, February 29 La 3 Razzmatazz, Barcelona ES
Sunday, March 1 Cafe Berlin, Madrid ES
Tuesday, March 3 Rock School Barbey, Bordeaux FR
Wednesday, March 4 Stereolux, Nantes FR
Thursday, March 5 La Maroquinerie, Paris FR
Wednesday, March 11 Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA
Thursday, March 12 Black Cat, Washington DC
Friday, March 13 Mothlight, Asheville NC
Saturday, March 14 529, Atlanta GA
Friday, March 20 Club Congress, Tucson AZ
Saturday, March 21 Casbah, San Diego CA
Tuesday, March 24 The Echo, Los Angeles CA
Wednesday, March 25 Slim’s, San Francisco CA
Saturday, March 28 Polaris Hall, Portland OR
Sunday, March 29 The Crocodile, Seattle WA
Wednesday, April 1 Turf Club, St. Paul MN
Thursday, April 2 Cactus Club, Milwaukee WI
Friday, April 3 Empty Bottle, Chicago IL
Saturday, April 4 Rumba Club, Columbus OH
Sunday, April 5 Deluxx Fluxx, Detroit MI
Monday, April 6 The Baby G, Toronto ON
Tuesday, April 7 Bar Le Ritz, Montreal QC
Thursday, April 9 Saint Vitus, Brooklyn NY Tuesday, April 21 Knust, Hamburg DE Friday, April 24 Nalen Klubb, Stockholm SE Saturday, April 25 Mejeriet, Lund SE Monday, April 27 Lido, Berlin DE Wednesday, April 29 Morze, St. Petersberg RU Thursday, April 30 Aglomerat, Moscow RU Sunday, May 3rd ISC, Bern CH Monday, May 4th Bogen F, Zurich CH
Ringing in the festive season, Lucy Dacus has released a cover of Wham’s “Last Christmas”. Following the release of acclaimed holiday-themed singles “La Vie En Rose,” “My Mother & I,” “Forever Half Mast,” “Dancing In The Dark,” and “In The Air Tonight” throughout the year, “Last Christmas” is the sixth installment taken from Dacus’ ‘2019’ EP that is out November 8th on Matador Records and can be preordered below. The EP also features an unreleased original tribute to New Year’s titled “Fools Gold.” A special bundle set of the 2019 EP and a limited edition, clear vinyl pressing of Dacus’s breakthrough 2018 album Historian will be available through the Matador Records webstore.
Sped-up, amped-up and delivered through a megaphone to chugging abandon, Dacus’ reworking of “Last Christmas” imbues the sweater-sporting classic with a spontaneous energy that turns it playfully on its head. “I don’t really like Christmas,” says Dacus. “In the studio, we listened to the original of ‘Last Christmas’ and didn’t talk about an arrangement. I just told everyone to play it angry. This is what happened first take. It actually came out pretty fun, maybe a tad psychotic.”
On the back of their much-acclaimed standalone piece “Can The Sub_Bass Speak?,” Algiers return in 2020 with their third album ‘There Is No Year’, set for release January 17. This latest chapter from the Atlanta via London/NYC four-piece can be previewed now with the video for first single “Dispossession.”
Even those aware of the ideals of this outspoken four-piece will find their latest direction on There Is No Year traversing unprecedented ground. Coming off two years of nonstop world-touring for their critically acclaimed second album, The Underside of Power—including Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic States and the Balkans, where they have established a rabid following; an extended stint opening for Depeche Mode in huge stadiums such as the 75,000-capacity Olympiastadion in Berlin; as well as Glastonbury 2019—There is No Year solidifies and expands upon the doom-laden soul of their foundation, toward an even more epic, genre-reformatting sound, one somehow suspended in the amber of “a different era,” as described by guitarist Lee Tesche.
Filmed in the Noisy le Grand commune in the eastern Suburbs of Paris amidst modern architectural landmarks such as Le Palacio d’Abraxas and Les Arènes de Picasso – and including images from the band’s visit to Algiers during the uprising in March 2019 – ‘Dispossession’ captures the towering, seeking and exhilarating essence of Algiers’ new body of work. The song features additional vocals from Cleveland’s Mourning [A] BLKstar, and production by Randall Dunn and Ben Greenberg.
“’Dispossession’ sounds the warning about the permanent war against oblivion,” says video director and academic at the University of California, Irvine, Sohail Daultazi. “Filmed in Paris video opens with the sites of colonial massacres of Algerians, moves to the repressive spaces of the banlieues, and includes shots of the Jardin d’Agronomie Tropicale – a park that celebrates the glories of empire. But this is not just about the past or Paris, it is everywhere that the banner of the West is waved, where monuments to our ruin are raised – reminders of the ongoing violence, of the tensions between dream and its discontents, past and present, them and us. I wanted to give visual resonance to these tensions, to our dignified stances amidst the madness, and to our memories of a future foretold.”
Multi-instrumentalist Ryan Mahan says: “The spectre of dispossession is haunting us all. Everywhere the imperial world represses the ghoulish histories that sustain our pasts, presents and futures. Franklin’s lyrics throughout “Dispossession” and our new record, There is No Year, like a neo-Southern Gothic novel with an anti-oppression undercurrent, testify to this modern horror, and chronicle the various ways we all – through living and longing – endure and resist its persistent attacks.”
Algiers play a headline tour of the UK and Europe in February, including a show at London’s Village Underground on February 5th, followed by North American dates in spring. A recent UK performance was described by The Guardian as “… (moving) from moments that sound like Nina Simone backed by the clatter of thunder, to an electro-gospel Birthday Party… unrelentingly potent”. The full list of dates can be found below in the bio penned by fellow Atlanta native and author of the novel There Is No Year, from which the album takes its name, Blake Butler.
**
In the FBI file on the American rock ‘n’ roll band Algiers—which given their prior penchant for repping the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, Angela Davis, and Afeni Shakur, among others, surely exists—under the subheading for their third album, ‘There is No Year’, the intelligence should soon read: all prior analytics appear outdated… this undoes everything we thought we knew about their intentions…what hides inside them… as if they are mutating live on camera, between frames…
From the instant synth-pulse of the opening seconds of ‘There is No Year,’ it’s clear that Algiers have set out to stake new ground, internally as much as sonically. At the forefront of this evolution is the centrality of power housed in Algiers’ multi-instrumentalist lead vocalist, Franklin James Fisher, whose voice and words provide the backbone of the album, his lyrics sourced entirely from an epic poem, “Misophonia,” composed during his search for meaning amidst a protracted personal period of anxiety and lack.
“What I wanted to do is create a negative space wherein I can exist and engage but at the same time not be so exposed,” Fisher explains. He speaks of the record’s perspective as not only a political apparatus, but an intimate, responsive evocation of his understanding that “nothing is ever what you expect”, that what might seem for now to be well known or assured is not always so, that there is no safety net. The effect, as felt on the record, is undeniable: Fisher sounds like he is singing for his life—for all our lives, really—baring his soul while the walls disintegrate around us.
Whether he is lilting over post-Lynchian synth-whorl like a spot-lit bandleader, as on “Unoccupied,” or reincarnating the spirit of thrumming 80s R&B into a proto-no wave dancefloor classic straight from 2046, as on “Chaka,” there is a tangible emotional electricity to Fisher’s delivery, a personal valence that makes you want, more than anything, to believe, even while not quite knowing where we’re headed.
No less next-level in Algiers’ conception is the ambition of the aural architecture they manage to summon. Under the direction of producers Randall Dunn [Sunn O))), Earth] and Ben Greenberg [Uniform, Hubble), ‘There Is No Year’ encompasses future-minded post-punk R&B from the trapped heart of ATL, where they began; to industrial soundscapes à la 4AD-era Scott Walker or Iggy & Bowie’s Berlin period; to something like the synthetic son of Marvin Gaye and Fever Ray. The whip-tight rhythm section of multi-instrumentalist Ryan Mahan and Matt Tong (ex-Bloc Party) moves back and forth from infectious menace to sci-fi soundtrack to big band fever dream. Mahan’s beat programming and synth constructions fill out the fibrous threshold, while Tesche’s sound-sleeves and aural-layering shapeshift into a richly polished means of exploration, revealing more and more the deeper you delve.
“This is the sowing / Of the whirlwind,” Fisher sings on ‘Repeating Night’. “Don’t forget it’s us against them.” There’s something more behind the curtain of our daily-headlined pain, the album’s title seems to suggest—something even larger at stake than rage, or even revolution; which is exactly what Algiers’ music appears to have resolved itself to channel, and to wield. Their essence on ‘There is No Year’ is a statement of their defiance, their desire to feel and be human even beyond the necessary fight back, sprawling head-on into the burning wind of doubt and fear and all it’s claimed, arriving on the far side of calamity more alive than ever.
preorder ‘There Is No Year’
stream / download “Dispossesion”
(PHYSICAL REPRESENTATION BREAKDOWN! : All Editions: All vinyl orders will receive a bonus 7″ flexi disc. Cloudy Clear Vinyl Edition: Pre-order the cloudyclear limited edition vinyl from band and Matador Webstores in US and UK, and purchase at your local independent record store in all other territories. Dinked Edition: Ultra-limited edition Dinked store exclusive version, hand numbered, mirriboard sleeve with reversed colours, LP pressed on gold coloured vinyl, 7” featuring “Void” and “Can The Sub_Bass Speak?”)
Tracklist :
01. There Is No Year
02. Dispossession
03. Hour of the Furnaces
04. Losing is Ours
05. Unoccupied
06. Chaka
07. Wait for The Sound
08. Repeating Night
09. We Can’t Be Found
10. Nothing Bloomed
Algiers on tour (new dates in bold) :
Monday, February 3 The Haunt, Brighton UK
Wednesday, February 5 Village Underground, London UK
Thursday, February 6 YES, Manchester UK
Friday, February 7 Stereo, Glasgow UK
Saturday, February 8 Whelans, Dublin IE
Monday, February 10 Brudenell, Leeds UK
Wednesday, February 12 Botanique Rotonde, Brussels BE
Thursday, February 13 Paradiso Upstairs, Amsterdam NE
Friday, February 14 Club Volta, Cologne DE
Saturday, February 15 Manufaktur, Schorndorf DE
Monday, February 17 Zoom, Frankfurt DE
Tuesday, February 18 Beatpol, Dresden DE
Thursday, February 20 Hybrydy, Warsaw PO
Friday, February 21 Lucerna Music Bar, Prague CZ
Saturday, February 22 Flex, Vienna AU
Monday, February 24 Strom, Munich DE
Wednesday, February 26 Monk, Rome IT
Thursday, February 27 Ohibo, Milan IT
Saturday, February 29 La 3 Razzmatazz, Barcelona ES
Sunday, March 1 Cafe Berlin, Madrid ES
Tuesday, March 3 Rock School Barbey, Bordeaux FR
Wednesday, March 4 Stereolux, Nantes FR
Thursday, March 5 La Maroquinerie, Paris FR Wednesday, March 11 Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA Thursday, March 12 Black Cat, Washington DC Friday, March 13 Mothlight, Asheville NC Saturday, March 14 529, Atlanta GA Friday, March 20 Club Congress, Tucson AZ Saturday, March 21 Casbah, San Diego CA Tuesday, March 24 The Echo, Los Angeles CA Wednesday, March 25 Slim’s, San Francisco CA Saturday, March 28 Polaris Hall, Portland OR Sunday, March 29 The Crocodile, Seattle WA Wednesday, April 1 Turf Club, St. Paul MN Thursday, April 2 Cactus Club, Milwaukee WI Friday, April 3 Empty Bottle, Chicago IL Saturday, April 4 Rumba Club, Columbus OH Sunday, April 5 Deluxx Fluxx, Detroit MI Monday, April 6 The Baby G, Toronto ON Tuesday, April 7 Bar Le Ritz, Montreal QC Thursday, April 9 Saint Vitus, Brooklyn NY
This past Saturday, PBS’ “News Hour” ran a feature on Spoon with interview and performance footage culled from the band’s most recent stop in Austin this past June, including a visit to Austin’s Girls Rock Camp.
Ending a 16-year hiatus since its last installment, the most mythical, longest running rock n roll mixtape odyssey in existence, Desert Sessions has finally returned: The most ambitious entries yet in its expansive and elusive catalog: ‘Vols. 11 & 12′ (a/k/a respectively as ’Arrivederci Despair’ and ‘Tightwads & Nitwits & Critics & Heels’) are now available on LP, CD and via all streaming services.
Highlights of the eight-song two-session collection include the creeping slowburn boogie of “Move Together” with its sublime Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) vocal, the propulsive rocker “Crucifire” fueled by an incendiary vocal performance from Mike Kerr (Royal Blood), the self-explanatory “Chic Tweetz” featuring the enigmatic Töôrnst Hülpft, and the lush melodies of grand finale “Easier Said Than Done” featuring a showstopping vocal from ringleader Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age).
Desert Sessions ‘Vols. 11 & 12’also arrive in a limited edition first vinyl pressing including a one of a kind custom mix & match body swap booklet. Exclusive merchandise bundles are available now.
‘Vols. 11 & 12’ were recorded (mostly) in December 2018 at Rancho De La Luna studios in Joshua Tree, CA, with Queens of the Stone Age founder and Desert Sessions ringleader/producer Joshua Homme enlisting a cast of players including:
Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top)
Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint)
Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters)
Mike Kerr (Royal Blood)
Carla Azar (Autolux, Jack White)
Les Claypool (Primus)
Matt Sweeney (Chavez, Superwolf, Endless Boogie)
Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows, Toast of London)
Libby Grace
Töôrnst Hülpft
The resulting eight songs embody the legacy of freedom from expectations and inhibitions that stretches back to 1997, when Homme led a first retreat to the Joshua Tree desert. What began as a casual writing and recording session amongst friends—isolated from daily distractions and comforts—has since become a possibly infinite body of work. Now spanning 12 volumes over the course of two decades (and a total of two documented live performances), The Desert Sessions has featured some of music’s most cherished icons—past players have included Polly Harvey, Mark Lanegan, Josh Freese, Dean Ween, among many others—deliberately removing themselves from their comfort zones and working together to create some of their most relaxed yet challenging work.
The tracklist for Desert Sessions ‘Vols. 11 & 12′ (a/k/a ’Arrivederci Despair’ and ’Tightwads & Nitwits & Critics & Heels’) is:
Move Together (lead vocal: Billy F. Gibbons)
Noses in Roses Forever (lead vocal: Joshua Homme)
Far East for the Trees
If You Run (lead vocal: Libby Grace)
Crucifire (lead vocal: Mike Kerr)
Chic Tweetz (vocals: Töôrnst Hülpft, Matt Berry)
Something You Can’t See (lead vocal: Jake Shears)
Easier Said Than Done (lead vocal: Joshua Homme)
Earlier this month, Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas), choreographer Kate Wallich and Dance Company The YC debuted their project, The Sun Still Burns Here in Seattle. Today, Perfume Genius shares “Pop Song,” another work from the immersive dance piece and a follow up to the previously released “Eye In The Wall.” “It’s the sound of dancefloor euphoria,” said Pitchfork. “The color of lights flashing as you move through a crowd, the touch of skin damp and warm against everyone else’s.” Both songs, included in the full performance, can be seen live when the production arrives at the Joyce Theatre in NYC on November 13th. Additional performances will take place in Minneapolis in December and Boston in January. Full details below.
“Pop Song” is a riveting exploration of one’s physical form as an emotional conduit. “I imagined an ecstatic pile of bodies preparing to be consumed by the gods,” Hadreas says of the track. “A joyous communal sacrifice of the physical to spiritually level up. The lyric is like a conjuration spell to be sung when the mountain of bodies settles in position and is held still as an offering.” The track premiered yesterday on Sirius/ XMU and is available today at all streaming services.
Steve Gunn today releases ‘Acoustic Unseen’, a new EP of acoustic versions of songs from his critically acclaimed, ‘The Unseen In Between’. Following a year of worldwide touring and road testing the songs with a full band and in solo performances, the 7-song collection presents a spellbinding perspective on this stately set – disclosing the songs’ rich individual elements in Gunn’s dexterous and lyrical guitar style.
“After being on the road with the band since January,” says Gunn, “I wanted to spend an afternoon capturing the songs from ‘The Unseen In Between’ as I originally wrote them, with just me and my acoustic. Mid-year, I went back to the great Strange Weather Studio in Brooklyn, and played through the songs in their most basic form. It felt good.”
Accompanying the EP release is short compilation film “Unseen Anthology”. Directed by The Mitcham Submarine and edited by James Harman, the 12-minute film weaves together footage from touring, live sessions, official and unofficial music videos – including a breathtaking session for Toutpartout in a transformed convent in Ghent, on the road footage captured on a Fisher Price camera by Steve and his band, and acoustic videos filmed across London, including a Cecil Court bookshop. Taken together, it’s an engrossing, one-stop-shop live document of an artist in need of little more than a guitar and his voice to conjure a transfixing atmosphere, and an arresting visual companion to the EP.
Friday, October 18 Lambert’s, Austin TX %
Sunday, October 20 Duet Jazz ,The Bob Dylan Center Presents: An Evening with Steve Gunn, Tulsa OK Wednesday, October 23 Showbox Theater, Seattle WA @%
Thursday, October 24 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC @%
Friday, October 25 Wild Buffalo, Bellingham WA @%
Saturday, October 26 Wonder Ballroom, Portland OR @%
Monday, October 28 Slim’s, San Francisco CA @%
Tuesday, October 29 Slim’s, San Francisco CA @%
Wednesday, October 30 Slim’s, San Francisco CA @%
Sunday, November 3 Shibuya 7th Floor Tokyo JP % Wednesday, November 6 Tuning Fork, Auckland NZ % Thursday, November 7 Blue Smoke, Christchurch NZ % Friday, November 8 Dog With Two Tails, Dunedin NZ % Saturday, November 9 The Plant, Blenheim NZ % Sunday, November 10 Moon, Wellington NZ % Wednesday, November 13 Sitting Room Session, Hawkes Bay NZ %
November 16 + 17 Mullum Music Festival %
Monday, November 18 Junk Bar, Brisbane AU %
Wednesday, November 20 Altar, Hobart AU %
Thursday, November 21 Theatre Royal, Castlemaine AU + %
Friday, November 22 Melbourne Music Week, State Library, Melbourne AU + %
Saturday, November 23 Coalchella, Wombarra Bowlo, Wombarra AU %
Sunday, November 24 Red Rattler, Sydney AU + %
% indicates solo performance
@ w/ Dinosaur Jr.
+ w/ Tiny Ruins
Today Kim Gordon releases her highly anticipated, ‘No Home Record’, an album already being heralded as “provocative, challenging and effortlessly cool” and “a superb genre-spanning solo debut.” Those who purchase the CD or LP at Amoeba Hollywood (6400 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028) today can celebrate with Gordon in-person at an in-store signing event starting at 7pm.
Earlier today, Gordon released a clip for “Hungry Baby”, which is the latest in a short video series the legendary musician and Berlin-based artist and filmmaker Loretta Fahrenholz created to accompany the album
